Pipes
by Sablecatress
Summary: Before Lina and Doon discovered the box left behind by the Builders and led their people out of Ember, there was a young pipeworks laborer who met and fell in love with Loris Harrow.
1. Chapter 1

"How was work?" Loris said.

"It was work!" I snapped. I yanked the door open and stomped up the stairs to the apartment, tossed my jacket on the floor and sank down on the mattress, running my fingers through my hair. It didn't come as much surprise when he came to stand in the doorway a few moments later.

"Don't look at me with that stupid look on your face." I growled.

He grinned. "Don't smile."

"I won't." I rolled over on the mattress so my back was to him and curled into the fetal position. The floorboards creaked, the springs in the mattress squeaked as he sat down and rested a hand on my leg. "This place is falling apart."

"You don't know that."

"I do know." I said grimly. "I see it every day down there. Why don't you see it, Barrow? It's staring you right in the face, and you refuse to see it." I rolled over on my back to look at him. "Or is it that you _do_ see it, and you just don't want to acknowledge it?"

He sighed. "Row, what's wrong? You're not at all your usual cheery self."

I gave sarcastic smile. "Ha ha."

He laid down next to me and propped himself up with his elbow so he could look down at me. "What are you afraid of, Row?"

I took his hand and held it to my lips. "A lot of things. But most of all I'm scared of a dead end. Of not moving forward or backward. It's hard to go anywhere when you can't see where you're going. When you're in the dark. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"Why do you love me? I'm the most temperamental person in the entire city. Jilly Rock could sing, Olitte Morethwart could weave and sew. All I do is tend pipes all day long, and come home disgusting and sweaty. Even the way we met, I was drenched in steam and covered in pipe rust with a helmet too big for my head. How did you decide you loved me?"

He shrugged. "Maybe it's because I love your moodiness. Because I loved Rowen Fairfax for who she was, not for who people thought she should be. I love you because you're kind, you're smart, you're hardworking. You're my Rowen, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Now, it's your turn. Why do you love me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because you were there. Because you're handy in a fix. Because you were the only person who could look at me and see past all the gloom and anger and stress and just see _me._ Because you know I don't have to smile to let you know I'm happy. Because you can tell when I'm angry and frustrated, and even though I tell you to leave me alone and mind your own business, you don't, because you know exactly what I need. I love you because you are the most forgiving man I have ever met. And that's why I'm so glad."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm glad I get to be the woman lucky enough to have Loris Harrow's baby."

"What? Really?" He sat up a little straighter. "Row, are you…are you sure?"

"Course I'm sure. You didn't think I was getting fat from all this food, did you?"

He was so distracted he forgot to scold my sarcasm. "Fat? N-no, you're not-" He hesitantly reached over and rested his hand on my stomach.

I readjusted it so his fingers slipped beneath my waistband, resting a few inches below my belly button. "Right there." I whispered.

"How do you know?"

"Because I felt it kicking today."

His lips curved in a shy smile. "Wow."


	2. Chapter 2

"I thought of what I'm gonna call the baby." I said.

Sul turned around to look at me. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. It just came to me, right now. Doon. I'm gonna call him Doon."

"How do you know it's a boy? What if it's a girl?"

"He's a boy." I said certainly. "I'm sure of it, he's a boy."

"Lift this." He said roughly.

I wrapped my arms around the pipe and heaved up as Sul lay the level on top. He gave a dissatisfied growl.

"Still lopsided?" I asked.

He grunted. "Up some more."

I braced my back on another pipe and strained with the pipe. Sul wedged his rag in the resulting gap and tested it again. "That should do it. Put it down."

We both leaned in to look at the bubble in the level. It stayed relatively centered. Sul patted my back and we headed further down the tunnel. "I'd like to stay in the pipes as long as possible before I have to take leave." I admitted.

"Is that good for the baby?"

"Pipe rust and body odor? Absolutely."

He chuckled. "What's your man think?"

I sighed. "Loris wants me to quit a little earlier, to get comfortable with being home. I think I'll be going stir-crazy enough as it is."

"You'll find a way. But I'll miss you, Rowen."

"Yeah, yeah. You'll get twice as much done without me."

He put an arm over my shoulders and rapped his knuckles on my hardhat. "Come on. Lots to do."

"There always is." I muttered, and I followed him, whistling a quiet tune.


	3. Chapter 3

"Okay, Rowen. I want you to focus on rhythmic breathing, just like we practiced. In, two-three, out two-three-four." I was laying in the corner of the couch, Althea knelt on the floor so she could better see between my legs.

I held a rolled up dishcloth between my teeth, breathing in through my nose and out my mouth. "Ah! Where's Loris?"

"He's in the other room, Rowen. Right where he was when you asked five minutes ago. Take it easy."

" _Aaaaaarrrggh_! I didn't think it would hurt this bad."

Althea smiled. "You're pushing a baby out, Rowen, how did you think it would feel?"

"I don't know, but not like thi-" I broke off mid-sentence in a long, loud string of wailing, groaning and moaning. " _Aaaaarrghgghhhhoooooooowwww!"_ Then I let out a high-pitched, _Ah!_

"That's it, Rowen! You're done, that's it! Fetch Loris, he'll want to see this!" Althea quickly set about cutting the cord and wiping my baby down with a clean towel while Loris shyly entered the room. He knelt down beside the sofa.

I touched his face. "Did you see him? Did you see our son? It's a boy. I know it's a boy." I leaned my head back, licking sweat from my lips. My hair was stuck to my forehead with perspiration.

"You're right, Rowen. He's a good strong healthy boy." Althea said, passing me the towel with the baby inside. "I'll leave you to get to know each other. I'll come back later to finish cleaning."

"Thank you, doctor." Loris murmured, then he moved to sit on the couch beside me.

I couldn't stop looking at him, at my perfect son. "I knew you were a boy. Doon. My beautiful Doon, you're here! You're finally here." I covered my mouth with my hand. "Ow, my face. Why does it hurt?"

Loris grinned at me. "Because you've never smiled like this, Rowen. Not so widely, and never for so long."

I laughed and winced again. "Ow!"

Later that night I lay on my stomach on the floor beside my son, watching him as he sucked his fingers and stared around at this new world. He had thick dark hair and deep blue eyes, combining mine and his father's most prominent traits, and he was the most perfect thing I had ever seen.


	4. Chapter 4

"He started walking today." I said.

"Really?" Loris crouched down across from his son.

I helped Doon stand, holding onto his hands. "Walk to daddy. Go on, walk to daddy!"

The toddler took one unsteady step after another before he got far enough to grab hold of Loris's outstretched hand. "That's my boy!" Loris exclaimed excitedly. "Okay, walk back to mommy."

Doon took several short strides and fell into my arms. "Yes, yes, yes! What a big boy you are!" I rolled onto my back on the floor, still holding him in my arms.

He curled into a ball on my stomach. I gently stroked my fingers through his thick black hair and looked up at Loris. "I go back to the pipes tomorrow."

"Yeah." He said quietly.

"Eight months…it wasn't long enough, was it? But we need the money."

Loris picked Doon up. There were several damp spots on my shirt where he'd gone from sucking his fingers to sucking on the red fabric.

"Welcome back, Row!" Vin shouted across the locker room.

I waved. "Good to be back!"

I sat down beside Sul to pull on my boots. He grunted. "How's the kid?"

"He's good." I said. "Loris is with him."

"Huh." He pounded my back. "Let's go to work."

"Ugh, Doon, don't touch Mommy's boots." I stood up and picked up my rubber boots and placed them on the shelf above the door. "Yucky. Blegh."

"Blegh." Doon repeated with a big smile.

"Exactly." I wandered back over to the table and sat down, stretching my legs out as far as they would go while my chin slumped forward on my chest.

"Hey, you okay?" Loris reached over the table to touch my arm.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, massaging the furrows in my brow. "Just a headache. I'm tired is all." I slid down a little further in my seat. "What were you saying? About Raine's wife? Andie, right?"

"Just had a baby girl." He said. "A year after Doon."

"Mmm." I mumbled.

Doon wandered unsteadily over, falling against my leg when he got close enough. I lifted him in my arms and stood up, walking dazedly toward the bedroom.

"Not gonna finish dinner?"

"Not hungry." I said.


	5. Chapter 5

He put his hands on my shoulders and leaned his forehead against mine. "Look, Rowen, you've had a bad day. But we'll pull through this, just like we always do-"

"No, you're not listening!" I yelled, pulling away from him. "That's not going to cut it! And I know you'll just hide behind your little tinker-toys in this run-down shop, and ignore the fact that Ember is collapsing around us, and the darkness is creeping closer!"

"The lights always come back on." He said calmly.

"What if they don't? What if there comes a day when they don't, Barrow?" I demanded. "It'll go black for us! For me, for you, for _everyone!_ The generator won't last forever! Five, maybe ten more years if we're lucky. But it'll go eventually, and when it does-"

"And what can you do about it?" He shouted, raising his voice to me for the first time since we'd met. "What can _you_ do about it, Row?"

Doon was sobbing, most likely out of confusion as to why his parents were yelling.

"I don't know!" I roared. "And that's what frustrates me the most! That I, Rowen Harrow, can't do a damn thing! That I'm rotting in this hellhole with no way out, and my son is doomed to follow in my footsteps!"

Loris stared speechlessly at me, shocked to hear me curse.

I looked down at my boots, ran my fingers through my hair, spread my arms, then let them fall to my side. "This is who I really am, Loris." I said, shaking my head. "This is what you married. I'm a foul-mouthed cynic. I'm a gloomy nihilist with an affinity to see the downside of everything. I don't smile, don't laugh…I'm just a bit of scum you happened to scrape off the streets. And someone like me…" I took a deep breath. "Someone like me doesn't deserve a man like you."

"Listen to me, Row-"

I wasn't listening as I brushed past him and stepped out into the hallway of the apartment building. "Wait, Row?" He called. Dust fell from the ceiling as I slammed the door behind me. Doon could be heard through the wall, still crying, as I stormed down the stairs.

I took to the streets, hands in my pockets, blinking back frustrated tears.

"Evening, Rowen."

I didn't look up to see who spoke, wandering further into the heart of the city, then toward the outskirts, until I came across a familiar drainage pipe leading under the road. It was a tighter squeeze than I remembered, hardly surprising considering I hadn't slept in this pipe for nearly three years. I tucked my knees close to my chest and closed my eyes, listening to the constant drip of water from condensed steam. _Steam from the pipeworks_ , I thought as I took in a deep breath. I'd wager there was a good amount of my own sweat in that very steam, along with Sul's, Vin's, Rog's. The sweat of hardworking people.

Lights out.

The generator coughed and wheezed, rattling on even in the darkness. Loris would be worrying, but I didn't move from my pipe. Not until the light returned.

Doon was alone in the living room when I came home. I picked him up and settled back on the sofa, looking into his beautiful eyes.

He suddenly snuggled up against my chest. "I love you, mommy."

I hugged him. "Oh, I love you, too."

We fell asleep there together, my arms around my boy while he slept with his head beneath my chin. I woke sometime later as someone shuffled into the room but I didn't open my eyes. Loris crossed the room and rested his hand on Doon's head and leaned over to kiss my forehead.

"I love you." I whispered.

I felt him stiffen. "Row?"

I finally opened my eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said what I did, I shouldn't have walked out like that. There were better ways to handle it-"

"Shh." He knelt down so he was at eye level with me, and I craned my head to the side to look at him.

"I should have-"

He put a finger to my lips. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have shouted. I'm just glad you're home. That's all I care about. When you still weren't here after lights out, I worried. I-"

"I was fine. I know the city inside and out, lights on or not." I put my hand aside his face. "Maybe you were right. Maybe we have just had a bad day."

Doon shifted in his sleep, uttering several peaceful grunting noises. Loris and I both looked down at our little boy and shared an affectionate smile.


	6. Chapter 6

"Mrs. Oiler said she heard shouting from your apartment yesterday night." Andie probed gently. "Said Doon was crying all night long."

I winced at the thought of my baby wailing for me in the dark. "You and Raine fight, don't you?" I said.

Andie sighed. "Of course we do. Everybody has their occasional disagreements, Rowen, but _Loris_? You just don't expect it from him. That's all I mean."

"Well, maybe it's different for me because I'm his wife." I said defensively.

I was finding it increasingly difficult not to get frustrated with Andie. Maybe she was ten years older than me, but that didn't make her any more learned on the subject of husbands and babies than I was. Especially considering I had gotten pregnant and given birth a year before Lina was even a twinkle in her mother's eye. Even so, she still felt obligated to share with me every obscure tip and remedy from relationship advice to breastfeeding complications.

"I appreciate you doing this, Row." She added as she folded another jumper. She indicated the pile of toddler's clothes I'd brought.

"Not a problem." I said. "Doon's growing too fast, they won't do him any good."

The corroded radio on my belt suddenly crackled, followed by a riling beep. Andie jumped. "What was that?"

Alarms started blaring in the street. I was on my feet and started for the door before the announcement came: _All pipeworks laborers report to your stations._

"I'm sorry, Andie. I'll come again!" I yelled, and ran onto the street toward the pipeworks.

I burst through the door into the control room. "What's the problem?"

"Waterwheel. Something's jammed." Vin reported.

I ran to my locker for my belt and cursed. "Left my belt home!" I seized a tool belt from a random locker and ran out of the room. Vin hurried after me, struggling to pull his coveralls over his pants. We stepped out onto the stairs adjacent to the waterwheel. The machinery was straining to turn.

"Something's wound around the axle!" I yelled. "I'm gonna get a better look." I edged my foot out onto the slick surface and reached for the top rung of the ladder.

"Easy, Rowen!" Vin cautioned me.

I waved him off. "I'm fine. Looks like it's a piece of clothing, maybe a jacket! I'll try and unwind it."

The cloth was wedged tight. I fumbled for the shears in the belt and set to trimming it away one fiber at a time. The wheel groaned under the water pressure.

"Row?"

"Almost there!"

The cloth ripped away all at once, allowing the wheel to go on churning. I gripped the ladder rung to brace against the sudden rush of water being pulled under the wheel. I gave Vin a thumbs-up. "Got it!"

"Okay, now get out of there!"

The rusted rung broke under my foot.

"Whoa!" Vin scrambled onto the wheel casing. "Row?"

I clung to the ladder with one hand, hauling myself up against the surging water. "Vin!"

He reached toward me. "Give me your hand."

"Can't reach!"

"Come on!" He lay down on his stomach and seized my fingers.

I choked on spray from the wheel. "I want you to do something for me!"

"Hold on, Rowen!" Vin yelled.

"Tell Loris! Tell Loris and my boy that I love them!"

He looked over his shoulder. "Rand! Somebody get a rope!"

But my hand was slipping, I couldn't get traction on the slick metal. "Promise me, Vin. Tell them I love them!"

He seized my hand in both of his. "No, no, we'll get you up."

"Vin, please!"

"I promise." He finally yelled hoarsely.

"Thank you!"

"Just hold on, Rowen, help's on the way."

"I can't hold on, Vin!"

"No, no, no!"

The harder he tried to hold on, the quicker my hand seemed to slip through his. My rubber boots squealed against the metal, I clawed desperately with my other hand, and suddenly I was freefalling back into the water.

 _"_ _ROWEN!"_

Water in my lungs, the churning of the huge wheel above me as the current sucked me in. My helmet was gone. I waited for the darkness to come and conjured up an image in my mind, of my husband and our son.

Loris answered the door. "Vin! What brings you here?"

The other man bowed his head. "Barrow, I…I'm afraid I have some bad news. It's Rowen. There was a jam in the waterwheel. She lost her footing and…" He took a long breath and slowly passed the helmet to the other man. "She got pulled under the waterwheel. Barrow, I'm so sorry."

Loris looked down at the helmet, speechless from shock. He looked at the name… _Fairfax_ had been scratched out, with _Harrow_ carved just above it. "Thank you, Vin." He managed to get out.

He closed the door and wandered in a daze to the table, sinking into one of the chairs and placing the hat on the table. Doon wandered over, and Loris pulled him into his arms and held him tight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ten Years Later**

"I trained your mother, too, when she started down here." Sul said.

Doon stopped. "What?"

"Your mother!" Sul shouted, thinking he couldn't hear.

"She worked Pipeworks?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it? Smart girl. She picked it up like walkin', and not just her own job. She learned everything she could about everybody's jobs. In fact, she was standing in that very spot when it came to her."

"What?"

"Your name." Sul said matter-of-factly.

Doon bit his lip.

"You okay, kid?"

"What?"

"Look a little green."

"No. No, I...I don't think..." Doon sat down. "I don't feel so good."

When shift was over, Doon promptly dropped his things and ran home. He found his father seated at the table. "Why didn't you tell me mom worked in the Pipeworks?" He demanded.

Loris sighed. "I was waiting for the proper time. But I guess now's as good a time as any." He stood up and went into his room and returned a moment later with a metal hardhat, the inside of which was packed with several objects.

"What is it?"

"From your mother." He said. "We got married when she was eighteen. I was thirty-six, twice her age, but I loved her. We'd met three years before, and I asked if I could start seeing her. People thought it strange, what with the age difference, but…About a year after we were married she realized she was pregnant, and we had you. And you were the world to her, son."

"What was she like?"

"She was tall, and strong. She had to be to work Pipeworks. She looked old, for her age. She had a wisdom about her, it radiated from her. She wasn't one to smile and laugh. Bit serious if you ask me. Quiet, liked to keep to herself. But I think her career did that to her more than anything.

"She was moody, stubborn, passionate, solemn…angry."

"At what?"

"Angry at life, son. You know, there was only one time in the eight years I knew your mother, that she actually smiled the entire day without having to force it. And that was the day you were born." Loris patted his son on the cheek.

Doon grinned.

"She hated the Day of Singing. Always regarded it as a silly tradition when we had better things to be doing. She hated to be standing still, standing by while the city fell apart. But it also could have been because she sang like a broken pipe, and she knew it."

Doon pulled out a thick piece of paper. It was an ink sketch of a young woman with large, somber eyes and solemnly fair features, but her lips were curled up in a small smile as she looked at the toddler in her arms. "This is her?"

"Mmm." His father nodded. "Now you know where you got your looks, eh? Certainly not from me. The only thing you didn't get from her is the eyes. You remind me so much of her. Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised you both drew the same job." He drew out a thick band of leather with pouches sewn in. "This was her tool belt. She left it home the day she…and they brought the hat later on when they gave me the news."

"What's this?" Doon wondered, pulling out a thin stack of folded papers.

"She kept a journal of sorts…thoughts and ideas that came to her."

Doon went to return the things to his father, but Loris shook his head. "No, no. Keep them. Your mother would have wanted you to have this."

 _Doon,_

 _As I write this you lay sleeping on my bed. I have always loved watching you sleep, ever since you were born. It calms me to hear you breathing._

 _My beautiful boy. You don't know how deeply I love you. You are my shining light in the darkness, my ever burning spark of life. And I cannot bear the thought of that light being suffocated in this never-ending darkness._


	8. Chapter 8

**The People of Sparks**

"Whattaya have for me today?" Ben said.

I jumped down from my horse and pulled the large fur from over my two-wheeled wagon. "Oh, the usual. Furs, herbs and medicine for Hester. Few doodads I've no use for, but you might find them handy."

"Rowen!" I turned as a crowd of children rushed toward me and nearly knocked me off my feet.

"And what do you rascals want, huh?"

"Candy!" They roared back at me.

I reached into the cart and withdrew the bag of candied chestnuts. "What, these?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, fine, go crazy." I looked back at Ben. "Is it just me, or have you grown by a few hundred people?"

He groaned. "That's right, you wouldn't know. They come from underground."

I started. "What?"

"That's right."

I let my bag slip from my shoulders and began searching the surrounding faces. _Of course. How had I not recognized them?_ There was Hadley Ralls…Ned Phillips, Rodney Knorrick. They all looked so weak and scrawny. "How long have they been with you?" I asked.

Ben shrugged. "Couple of weeks, maybe."

That looked about right. Neither Andie nor Raine were among them. Neither was Sul, to my disappointment. I would have liked to see my mentor again. So many new faces. The children were growing up. I kept on searching for one face, one particular face, finding myself growing more and more desperate when I still didn't see him. Had the cough come back and stricken both my husband and son? Had they been taken from me again?

"We've kept them at the Pioneer, but I've no idea how we'll survive the winter with twice as many mouths to feed. They'll have to move on."

I nodded absentmindedly, still searching the faces, when suddenly I stood a little straighter. Older, grayer, but still…"Loris." I whispered.

"Hmm?" Ben muttered.

My voice broke in a hoarse scream. " _Barrow!_ "

Loris turned around just in time as I barreled into him.

"You're alive!" He gasped hoarsely. He took my face in his hands. "You're alive."

I brushed his bangs away from his forehead. There was that pale complexion, underfed, malnourished look I had strived for ten years to overcome.

"How?"

"We have a lot to talk about." I murmured.

His face formed a broad smile. "Wait until you see." He looked around earnestly, and I followed his gaze to a group of teenage boys gathered beneath a tree.

My breath caught in my throat. "It can't be."

Loris nodded. "Our son, Rowen."

He was tall, dark haired, blue eyes…he held his face like I did, in solemn consideration. Loris called him over as I was looking. "Doon!"

The boy walked toward us. He looked at me, first with curiosity, then with wide eyes as the realization hit him. "M-mom?"

"Doon!" I held his face in my hands. "My boy! Oh, my boy!" I gasped, hugging him tight. I hooked an arm around Loris and hugged them both. Surely it was impossible that after ten years I could be with my family again. I couldn't stop the tears. They flowed from my eyes uninhibited as I laughed and smiled, kissing my husband, kissing my son, clinging to their stunted pale frames with no intention of ever letting them go again.

We sat together in the grass as I retold my tale.

"I was dazed, trying to get my bearings. My head was bleeding from all the times I'd hit against rocks and debris. I tried to get back to you, Loris. I tried to get back to you and our son, but the river flows one way. So finally I turned my back on the river and went up, to the surface."

"You've been here this whole time." Loris murmured.

I nodded. "Yes."

I listened to their own stories. Doon recounted the exodus from the city, how he and Lina had solved the puzzle and saved Ember. I drank it all in with zeal.


	9. Chapter 9

"I know that look." Loris said.

"What look?"

"It's been ten years, but I can still tell when you're antsy and anxious. You want to get moving." Loris's eyes searched me, hungrily, as if he were desperate to understand his wife…this woman who he'd thought he'd known, but she'd turned into someone else.

I looked toward the sunset. "You're right." I finally murmured. "I wasn't made to settle in one place."

"We'll be moving on, soon." Loris said. "You can come with us, Row."

I shook my head. "Do you really believe that, Barrow? I mean, look at them." I nodded to the Emberites clustered around the Hotel. "It's been weeks since you arrived, they can barely lift a shovel in the sunlight without fainting. How do you expect them to build adequate shelter? To grow food?"

"You've survived for ten years."

"On my own." I said. "I've been taking care of myself. I eat as I go, I don't settle down. When winter comes, I move further south, to the warmer land. One person is easy to look after. Four hundred is a different story, you can't feed four hundred people on the move."

He let out a small sigh. "You've changed, Row. I thought you were strong down in the City, but you've flourished up here. So tall and muscular. And independent. I can't keep up with you."

"Sure you can."

"No, Row, I don't think I can. My fingers ache. I thought I would die of happiness when I saw your face two weeks ago. But the more I look at you the more I realize we've grown apart. We're different people."

I frowned. "Barrow, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm old, Row. I wasn't young when we were married, and I haven't gotten any younger in the years we've been apart."

I stood up and backed away from him. "Don't talk like that! I just got you back, I won't leave you behind."

"You may not have a choice, Rowen."

"You could come with me! You, me and Doon, the three of us! We'll be a family!"

Loris interrupted me. "Rowen, please! Our son is grown up. He's not the little boy who used to fall asleep in your arms. He's become the savior of our city, the people look up to him. He belongs with them."

I looked at him intently. "And what about you?"

He wouldn't meet my gaze. "I've already told you about me, Row."

I knelt down across from him and stared into his eyes. "Barrow…have you forgotten me?"

"NO!" He said hoarsely. "Never, Row. I could never forget you-"

"Then you've forgotten your love for me."

"I will always love you, Rowen. You were my first love, the mother of my son."

"But not your last." I said tonelessly.

He gave me a distressed look and reached out to touch my face. "I thought you were dead."

I pulled away and stepped out of the shade of the tree, turning my face so he couldn't see my tears. "When I first emerged on the surface, I imagined how wonderful it would be to stand in the sunlight with my husband and son. To be together, the three of us. Don't you want that, Loris?"

"Ten years ago, maybe. But I can't, Rowen. I just can't."

"Is it that you can't, or that you simply don't want to? No, don't answer that. I already know what you'll say. I'm heading out before dawn." I said. "Tell Doon…" I let out a dry chuckle. "I suppose you don't have to tell him anything, do you? Goodbye, Barrow. I hope you can find peace here. Maybe we'll see each other again. I'd like that."


	10. Chapter 10

**Ten Months Later**

A boy and girl ran into the plaza. "Mom!" Doon yelled, and threw his arms around me.

I hugged him tight.

"Where've you been? It's been months since you came-"

"Never mind that, I'm here now."

"Rowen!" Mary called.

I looked up at her, "Mary," shook her hand. "Hester around?"

"She's back in her hut."

"Well I've got something here she'll want."

Doon, Torren and Lina instantly clamored around me to see. "What is it?"

"Back, back, back! You scoundrels!" I said jokingly. "Wait and see. Might as well take the whole thing there." I took Fatch's reins and guided the horse toward the road. The children scampered around beside me.

I pulled my fur tarp aside to expose the decomposing boxes in my cart. Hester looked like she might faint. "Where did you find these?"

"In the northern ruins." I said. "You know I know the Northlands better than anyone. That's why I was gone so long, had a bit of a wolf problem."

Torren was inspecting the bottles. "What's Tylenol?" He wondered.

"Aspirin, Tylenol...And they're in perfect condition." Hester exclaimed.

I let her leave to organize her new medicines and started unharnessing Fatch from the wagon.

"Aren't you afraid he'll run off?"

I noticed Lina for the first time, watching the horse hungrily. "No." I said. "He trusts me, and I trust him. You want to ride him?"

She looked startled. "Can I? We had another roamer come through with a horse, but hers was too old to ride."

"This one's young. And he's gentle. Come here."

Lina walked over, and I knelt down beside Fatch. "Hold the reins and his mane in one hand, and put your foot in my hands. I'll give you a boost up."

I stood to the side and looked on as she walked the horse in circles around the yard.

Doon came to stand beside me. "Dad said you used to work in the pipeworks." He said suddenly.

"Mmm, that's right. Ten years."

"I drew the same job."

I turned my head to look at him.

"Sul was my mentor."

"Really?" I smiled. "I like the thought of that. You were in good hands after all. Where is your father?"

"Inside with Mrs. Murdo." He said. "You're leaving again?"

I nodded. "But I'd like to say goodbye before I head out again. Keep an eye on Lina, would you?" I went into the house. Evaleen was cutting vegetables at the counter, Loris was seated on a stool, tinkering with something. I watched them for a moment from the doorway. It would have been difficult not to miss the glances they gave each other, the occasional smile. I cleared my throat.

Loris leapt up. "Rowen! When'd you get here?"

"Few minutes ago. I'm headed back out, thought I'd stop in. How are things?"

Evaleen blushed. "Well-"

"Maybe another time, Ev." Loris murmured.

"What?"

Mrs. Murdo set down the knife. "Loris and I, we-"

I beamed. "Congratulations!"

They looked confused.

I strode over to hug my former husband.

"You're not upset?"

"I'm happy for you." I said. "Truly, Loris, I am. She'll be better for you than I ever was."

Mrs. Murdo laughed. "I doubt that. We'll tolerate each other."

"Oh no. You'll do far more than that."

Loris took my hand. "Won't you stay, Row? Look at all of this, you could be happy here."

I turned to look out the window at Doon. "My boy is here. He's doing what makes him happy, he's learning and helping others. And as long as I know that, I'll be happy. No matter where I am."


End file.
